


The First Time Is the Last Time

by TheGreatCatsby



Series: Online Fan Fic Challenges [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: FrostIron - Freeform, M/M, bad science and magic theories, brief Thor appearance, ssfrostiron, super fun frostiron contest entry, the tesseract - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-02
Updated: 2013-07-02
Packaged: 2017-12-17 12:01:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/867295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGreatCatsby/pseuds/TheGreatCatsby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loki leaves Tony wanting more when he's taken away to Asgard for his punishment.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The First Time Is the Last Time

**Author's Note:**

> This is for the ssfrostiron Super Fun Contest thingy on Tumblr. So, this is a little one-shot thing taking place during The Avengers. I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> Incidentally, if you want to follow my Tumblr, my username is catsbythegreat.

As far as relationships go, it isn’t ideal. 

Loki sits behind bars, not glass this time, face a blank mask. Tony places a glass full of vodka, looking deceptively like water, on the floor in front of the cell. Loki raises an eyebrow. 

“Take it,” Tony says. 

The glass lifts off the ground of its own accord, hovers in the air, and then makes a bee-line for Loki’s hand. Loki catches it and takes a sip. Not a drop is spilled. 

“Show off,” Tony mutters. 

“Don’t pretend you aren’t fascinated,” Loki says. 

Tony can’t. Because magic doesn’t exist. And yet Loki is magic, a creature of magic even more so than Thor, and it bothers him on a fundamental level. 

“You can’t kid a kidder,” he says instead. He has no alcohol of his own, for once doesn’t want it. Being around Loki is its own kind of trippy experience, and besides, he feels like he might get killed if he tries to engage Loki drunk. 

“You believe magic is simply another form of science,” Loki says, looking into his now-empty glass. “And you would be mistaken.” 

“Fuck you.” Tony wishes he had something to play with. 

Loki lets go of the glass, and it hovers in the air, and then shatters. 

It is chaos, but controlled. The glass doesn’t fly in every direction, nor does it decorate the floor. Instead it hovers, frozen as if suspended in liquid, pieces scattered in the air. Loki moves his hand, and the pieces of glass rearrange themselves. He waves his hand again, and the pieces meld together to form the drinking glass Tony had originally given him, seamless. 

“Yeah, but can you fly?” Tony asks. “Because I can. Fly.” 

The drinking glass disappears. 

“Funny,” Tony says, but he’s impressed. He hasn’t seen something truly impressive in a long time. Not something that he’s wanted to take apart and reconstruct just to see how it works and then maybe invent something new and world-changing while he’s at it. 

He pulls his chair up so that his knees knock against the bars of the cell. 

“How did you do that?” he asks. 

“A magician never reveals his secrets,” Loki says. “Besides, you could not hope to replicate it.” 

“I don’t think Thor was lying when he said magic is another form of science,” Tony says. “You’re lying to me, though, when you say it’s not. You’re a liar. It’s what you do.” 

“It is not all that I do, Stark,” Loki says, leaning closer to the bars as well. 

The last time Tony was this close to Loki he got thrown out a window. 

But there are no windows here. 

“The cameras have caught your every move,” Tony murmurs. “Jarvis will be analyzing the energy signatures from your little trick, and I’ll come up with a way to combat your magic even if I can’t replicate it. Which I probably can. With enough time and energy.” 

Loki’s eyes flicker downwards to rest on the arc reactor glowing blue through Tony’s shirt. “It is like the Tesseract but not quite the same.” He looks into Tony’s eyes. “You can only ever hope for cheap imitation.” 

“Snob,” Tony says. 

“Am I?” Loki licks his lips. “You desire this power. Such a shame you can’t have it. Tomorrow I will be taken away to Asgard for my punishment. You may never see me again. You will never be able to study my magic, to learn its secrets.” 

“At least I won’t be the one rotting in a jail cell, or dead,” Tony says. But somewhere inside him something stirs. He realizes that he’s disappointed. He thought Loki had a way out. Maybe he does, and he’s just not taking it. 

“Is that so,” Loki says, and a thin hand reaches out and grabs Tony’s shirt, pulling him closer. “You think too little of me, Stark.” 

“Prove it,” Tony says.

And then Loki kisses him. 

As far as kisses go, this is the strangest kiss Tony has ever received. 

Because it isn’t just a kiss. Yeah, there’s lip-locking and okay, Tony feels really attracted right now, and yeah, they’re having a very passionate duel of sorts with their mouths. Loki is strangely cold. But there’s also the mental aspect which is, frankly, unexpected. 

Tony sees the universe. 

Not the blackness and the exploding Chitauri ships, but everything. He feels like he’s falling, and he can see other worlds, things he can’t explain, billions of stars being born and destroyed. He can see himself in the past and the future, and the shining city of Asgard resplendent in gold, and the cold dark rock that the Chitauri live on, and a being who would court death, and the absolute nothingness of the void, enough to drive one mad. 

Loki breaks the kiss and Tony leans back, gasping, the bars of the cell and Loki’s pale face coming into focus before him, different somehow. Tony can see all that chaos from his head in Loki’s eyes, burning. 

“Presume nothing,” Loki says. “Perhaps this is goodbye, and perhaps this is not. I do what I wish, and nothing else.” 

Dazed, Tony staggers to his feet. It is only after he leaves the room that he thinks to hope that Loki used his magic on the cameras. Because SHIELD would not appreciate their Iron Man making out with the enemy. Under no circumstances. Not even in the name of science (which, Tony tells himself, it totally was.) 

**

Tony wants more. 

When Thor and Loki stand in the middle of Central Park, Tesseract at the ready between them, there is no goodbye. Loki does not look at Tony, and Tony does not look at Loki. He looks at Thor and Thor doesn’t look back. 

Thor and Loki disappear in a wash of ethereal blue. 

Tony has seen things that could make and unmake the universe. The Tesseract is but one. 

He wants more. 

It isn’t an ideal relationship. He isn’t sure if it’s science or genuine feelings or curiosity that makes him want to see Loki again. But Loki is on another planet, and Tony is on Earth, and they may never see each other again. 

But perhaps it is not goodbye


End file.
